Paul M. Michaels

For the past two decades, Paul has established lasting relationships with key business leaders and stakeholders in Japan and the U.S., particularly in the Life Sciences field. He has completed transactions that influenced companies such as Celgene Corporation, Sumitomo Pharmaceuticals, Nobelpharma Co., Ltd, Teva Pharmaceuticals and Gilead.

He has also provided financial leadership and business development for almost 18 years to Inabata & Co. Ltd., one of Japan’s largest trading companies with $4.5 billion in annual sales. Throughout his tenure, he structured and closed major transactions that brought high-value products to the Japanese pharmaceutical market. Additionally, his other corporate responsibilities included overall evaluation of corporate asset values for purposes of divestiture or acquisition. Paul subsequently cofounded Nobelpharma, Ltd. Japan, an affiliate of Inabata & Co. Ltd., that is now one of Japan’s most successful orphan drug companies. As President of the U.S. division and a cofounder, he secured $35 million in initial capital and negotiated the license for the first designated orphan drug product in the company’s pipeline from Teva Pharmaceuticals.

As an adult-onset Type 1 diabetic, he knows firsthand how a patient can struggle to get the right diagnosis and treatment. Only 40,000 adults a year are diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. Paul is actively involved in the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), an organization funding research for Type 1 diabetes.